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Church and parliament leaders on law

PATRIARCHATE LEADER DEFENDS VETOED LAW; PARLIAMENT LEADERS DIFFER

NEWS

from Nezavisimaia gazeta, 13 August 1997

The president of the department of external church relations of the
Moscow patriarchate, Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, expressed
hope that representatives of religious associations and state agencies
will be able to reach agreement on the wording of revisions in the law
"On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations" that was
rejected by the Russian president. Speaking on Tuesday to a press conference
in Moscow he again confirmed the point of view of the Russian Orthodox
church that the vetoed law "does not contradict the constitution of
the Russian federation nor infringe upon anyone's rights, including Catholics
and Baptists." "I have never seen a more liberal law on religion
than is this law. Why is not anyone upset that a number of countries declare
themselves Catholic countries, but we are frightened that the law's preamble
simply points out the historic role and value of Orthodoxy in Russia?"
he said. (tr. by PDS)

c. Nezavisimaia gazeta, 13 August 1997

YEGOR STROEV: FEDERATION COUNCIL READY TO REVISE LAW
RIA NOVOSTI, 11 August 1997

MOSCOW 11 August. "If the duma tries to revise the law, then we
certainly will join the reconciliation commission," President Egor
Stroev of the Federation Council said on 8 August in a conversation with
a correspondent of the RIA Novosti agency. "If the duma chooses to
do something else, for example, if is wishes to override the president's
veto, then that will deprive us of the possibility of revising the law."
Emphasizing that "reason promotes" the necessity of an attentive
review "of all the opinions that have arisen with regard to this law,"
the speaker of the upper chamber called for "calm acceptance"
of the law, taking into account the existing opinions, because "it
is extremely necessary for our nation." In Stroev's opinion: "Orthodoxy
should occupy first place on the list of religions," but "it
would be possible to do without a list altogether." "The main
thing," he emphasized, "is that standards of conduct within the
life of society be observed in keeping with the rules that exist in our
country, as well as with Russia's treaties within the European Union."
(tr. by PDS) GENNADY SELEZNEV: STATE DUMA WILL NOT OBJECT TO CATHOLICISM
Segodnia, 12 August 1997 (ITAR-TASS) The conceptual principles of the law
on freedom of conscience will not be changed, but on a repeated review
of the document the deputies will take into account the suggestions of
Russian President Boris Yeltsin. In particular, Catholicism will be included
in a listing of the basic religions of Russia , according to the president
of the State Duma, Gennady Seleznev. He considers that a majority of the
disputes over this law, which has evoked discussion in Russian society,
are connected with the question of the activity of nontraditional religions
and sects. "The State Duma cannot give them the right to work on equal
footing with the Russian Orthodox church, and if the president does not
agree with this, we shall override his veto," the speaker of the lower
chamber declared. (tr. by PDS)

(posted 13 August 1997)

Patriarch versus president

PATRIARCH ALEXIS INSISTS ON HIS OWN WAY
by Gaiaz Alimov, Gennady Charodeev
Izvenstiia, 9 August 1997

A document has reached the editorial office of Izvestiia from the chancellery
of His Most Holiness which states the point of view of the Russian Orthodox
church on the law on freedom of conscience and religious associations,
which President Boris Yeltsin, as is known, has vetoed. If hitherto the
essence of the disagreements of the sides was a matter of conjecture, now
we can evaluate them. Actually this is a public polemic which, in our opinion,
is of interest to society. [tr. note: the wording in this article suggests
that the document referred to here is pretty much the same as the one that
was published in the magazine Radonezh with the title Expert
Commentary on the Draft of the Law. . . .]

What the president disagrees with:

"In rejecting the draft of the federal law On Freedom of Conscience
and Religious Associations, adopted by the State Duma, the president argued
that provisions of this draft contradict provisions of the constitution,
federal laws, and the bases of the constitutional system of Russia."

What the patriarch insists on:

ˆIt is impossible to agree with Boris Nikolaevich's position. The draft
as prepared was the fruit of long efforts of its creators and it fully
conforms with existing Russian legislation and with the generally accepted
legislative practice of foreign countries.

Article 2 of the draft gives the definition of legislation on freedom
of conscience and religious associations. In this definition there actually
is no mention of international standards and legal acts. However this does
not mean that these acts of international law, in the lawmakers' opinion,
are not a part of the Russian legislation on freedom of conscience. According
to part 4 of article 15 of the constitution these acts constitute an essential
part of the legal system of the Russian federation and consequently, independent
of the enumeration of standards and legal acts contained in article 2 of
the draft, the legislation on freedom of conscience and religious association
includes analogous provisions: "principles and standards of international
law and international agreements of the Russian federation."

What the president disagrees with:

The president considers that the draft law tramples upon "fundamental
human rights."

What the patriarch insists on:

An analysis of the indicated standards permits one to draw the conclusion
that the president considers the very procedure of registration of a religious
organization as "trampling on human rights." In this regard one
wishes to note that the creation of a religious organization is a basic,
but not the only, form of corporate confession of religion profession.
Alongside religious organizations there is another form of corporate religious
profession, the religious group, which does not require special registration.
Thus, the existence of a special procedure for registration of religious
organizations cannot be viewed as a restriction of citizens' rights to
corporate religious profession. From the moment of state registration of
religious organizations they acquire rights of legal entity. As legal entities,
religious organizations, on the one hand, become fully qualified participants
in the civil marketplace and on the other hand acquire enormous tax and
other privileges which essentially distinguish them from other economic
entities. In this regard the state must not automatically recognize as
religious organizations those associations who simply call themselves such.
The state must attentively examine the essence of the belief systems, their
rituals, and the social consequences of the activities of newly created
organizations. The need for a special procedure of registration of religious
organizations is contained also in international legal documents. For example,
in its resolution of 29 February 1996 the Europarliament "calls the
governments of member states not to grant the status of religious organization
automatically." Thus, the provision of the draft law regarding the
procedure of registration of religious organizations fully conforms to
the recommendations of the Europarliament.

What the president disagrees with:

The president categorically opposed the provision of the federal law
that was deliberately directed toward the restriction of the rights of
persons who are not citizens of Russia. In his letter the president of
Russia appealed to the provision of the constitution according to which"foreign
citizens and persons without citizenship enjoy in the Russian federation
rights, and bear obligations, on an equality with citizens of the Russian
federation."

What the patriarch insists on:

In this instance it has been entirely ignored that the restriction of
rights of foreign citizens is permitted if this restriction is established
by federal law or internation agreement of the Russian federation. That
is the restriction of certain rights of foreign citizens by the law On
Freedom of Religions Confession and Religious Associations" does not
thereby violate the constituion. According to the constitution "exercise
of human and civil rights and freedoms must not fiolate the rights and
freedoms of other persons." Religious Activity of foreign citizens
frequently has led to the saddest consequences for Russians. The task of
the state is to defend by all means its citiznes from infringement of their
rights and freedoms. One of the means of defense of the inerests of Russian
citizens is a partial restrictin of the rights of foreign citizens. Obviously
this is what guided the president of the Russian federation when he restricted
the constitutional rights of foreign citizens to labor. In decree no. 2146
of 16 December 1993, justifying the restriction of foreigners in their
right to labor, the president of Russia said: "In the interests ...
of guaranteeing the priority of the rights of citizens to occupy vacant
posts." Further by decree he established a complex procedure for receiving
permission for employing foreign citizens in Russia. A number of federal
laws also have established certain restriction of the rights of foreign
citizens and this fully agrees with the constitution. For example, in accordance
with article 7 of the Russian law of 27 December 1991, no. 2124-1 "On
Media of Mass Information" the founders of media of mass information
cannot be "citizens of another state;" in accordance with part
4 of article 18 of federal law "Concerning Changes and Additions to
the RSFSR law 'On banks and banking activity in RSFSR,'" "the
bank of Russia has the right to limit the appreciation of capital of credit
organizations at the expense of nonresidents." The state resorted
to these restrictions of the rights of foreigners because it determined
that in these matters the activities of Russians must have priority over
those of foreign citizens. Can anyone be persuaded that religious activity
is less significant for Russian citizens than banking activity or the activity
of media of mass information?

What the president disagrees with:

Analyzing a number of articles of the draft the president draws the
conclusion that requiring the state to give financial, material, and other
kinds of support to religious associations to assure the teaching of general
education subjects in educational institutions, created by religious organizatins,
does not comport with the constitution of Russia.

What the patriarch insists on:

It is necessary to note that in accordance with the federal law "On
Education," non-state educational institutions that have received
state accreditation already have the right to state and municipal financing
provided that they are implementing the basic general education curriculum.
The standard of the draft of the law under discussion in this case does
not introduce into Russian legislation anything new.

His Most Holiness considers the chief culprit in creating in the head
of state a mistaken understanding of the document to be a "small group
of experts who from the start had a negative attitude" toward the
law. "We know these people and we are ready to discuss openly with
them in the eyes of all society," Alexis II declared. It has become
known that President Boris Yeltsin has authorized his chief of staff to
conduct before 1 September an expanded sessino of the Council on Relations
with Religious Associations in order to agree with representatives of confessions,
deputies, and senators the essential question: whether it is necessary
to introduce serious changes in the draft of the law on freedom of conscient.

We shall see how well this can bring about a convergence of the positions
of the two sides. (tr. by PDS)

Journalist honors Yeltsin's political skill

THE PRESIDENT TOOK THE THIRD WAY
by Natalia Kalashnikova
Segondia, 7 August 1997

The patriarch consecrated a chapel whose cornerstone had been laid by
the president

"If the vacation had not interfered, many of the celebrated difficuties
never would have arisen," His Most Holiness Patriarch Alexis II of
Moscow and all-Rus said, drawing a line under the disagreements which had
seriously escalated in relations between the Russian Orthodox church (RPTs)
and the president. "Boris Nikolaevich, addressing a number of legislators,
said that a compromise must be found," the primate noted; "The
law most certainly must be adopted." Boris Yeltsin promised that the
law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Asociations can be adopted after
revision: "A reconciliation commission will be created that includes
representatives of the church, the duma, the presidency, and the government.
. . . After this the way will be cleared for the law."

The reconciliation of the church and the government came about on the
right day: yesterday the Orthodox commemorated in their prayers the holy
passionbearers Boris and Gleb. And on the right spot: Alexis II and Boris
Yeltsin met at the ceremony of the consecration of a church-chapel dedicated
to the pious princes on Arbat Square. [see report Yeltsin
meets patriarch] The chapel was erected on the very spot where earlier
had stood the church of Boris and Gleb, which was destroyed in the thirties.
The new church was finished within three months, and the president had
participated in the laying of the cornerstone, giving special honor to
Boris (for whom he is named), who was murdered in 1015 by his brother Sviatopolk
the Damned, and to Gleb (for whom his younger grandson is named). The princes,
we recall, were the first Russian saints to be canonized.

Evidently such a fortuitous concurrence of place, time, and circumstances
explains the extremely diverse composition of the assemblage of state figures
at Arbat Square. Here there were the minister of defense Igor Sergeev,
and secretary of the security council Ivan Rybkin, and vice-speakers of
the State Duma Artur Chiligarov and Sergei Baburin, and officials of Moscow.
Having received the prayers of the archdeacon for the health of the president
of Russia, the mayor, and members of the government of the "divinely
preserved city of Moscow," those present proceeded into the church.

However let us return to the theological discussion. Alexis II yesterday,
it seems, laid out more fully the position of the RPTs with regard to the
law we have mentioned. And judging from the sharpness of his points, the
government has now been shown its path for retreat. The patriarch's sermon
alluded to the campaign that arose in the west and even in the American
Congress (Americans threatened to "freeze" Russian aid) because
ofthe law's nonrecognition of "nontraditional" religions: "No
foreign intervention and generally no one and nothing can save Russia from
chaos and ruin until . . . the nation itself is cleansed in the font of
repentance from its years-old evils." The patriarch mentioned the
crimes of Aum Sinrikyo and the White Brotherhood. And for the first time
there was a curt commentary by the RPTs on a major dispute--onrecognition
of Catholicism as a "traditional" Russian religion: "In
tsarist Russia the main place of residence of Catholics was in Poland and
Lithuania. In Petersburg and Moscow there were Catholic churches for foreigners.
Catholic parishes on Russian territory were ruled by the metropolitan of
Mogilev," he recalled. Finally, after a certain hiatus, the primate
issued abundant words of gratitude about Boris Yeltsin himself. [see report
of patriarch's statement]

In a word, the victory seems to have been snatched from the grasp of
the duma that the president so dislikes: it had been planned to begin the
fall parliamentary session with the Lord's Prayer. But the president is
going along with the West and is discounting the Orthodox people. The president
is not being led by anyone because he has chosen--as he usually does--a
third way: he ordered both that the law be adopted and that the constitution
be observed. How? a reconciliation commission will decide. He even had
declared 1997 the year of concord and reconciliation.

Orthodox church will accept few changes in religion
law

MOSCOW, 7 August. Archbishop Sergius of Solnechnogorsk, chief of staff
of the Moscow patriarchate, declared that the current position of the Russian
Orthodox church is to insist upon the principles contained in the law "On
Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations," [text
of law] which Russian President Boris
Yeltsin vetoed, while "working for the achievement of compromise."

"We do not want to get into the basic conceptions of the law on
which a great deal of energy and effort has been expended," he said.
At the same time Father Sergius stressed that the Russian Orthodox church
would not wish for tensions among the president, State Duma, the government,
and representatives of the primary religious confessions, and thus it is
ready to find a mutually acceptable version.

In connection with this he expressed "satisfaction and joy"
over the decision of Boris Yeltsin to create a reconciliation commission,
which will include representatives of the church and state agencies, in
order "to review" the law, removing the provisions which, in
the president's opinion, violate the constitution.

Archbishop Sergius expressed great hopes that the expanded session of
the Council on Relations with Religious Associations of the Presidency
of the Russian Federation, which was ordered by the head of state to meet
before 1 September, "would reach a common denominator." The monseigneur
(vladyka) stressed that the Russian Orthodox church will insist upon the
preamble of the law, which takes note of the roots of Orthodoxy in Rus
and to which the president has expressed no dissent.

The main problem in revision of the document will deal, in his opinion,
with the right to religious freedom for a person who is not a citizen of
Russia , as well as the questions of the registration of religious sects
and organizations and of the representation of foreign churches of various
denominations in our country. When all obstacles have been removed,"
then, the Archbishop of Solnechnogorsk considers, "a compromise acceptable
to all will be found." He did not discount the possibility that there
may later be a meeting of the president and Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow
and all-Rus, who today began a ten-day vacation. (tr. by PDS)

Hindus apprehensive about outcome of revision of religion
law

For the Hindustan Times
from Fred Weir in Moscow,
6 August 1997
(from Johnson list)

MOSCOW (HT) -- President Boris Yeltsin moved this week to head off a
politically dangerous rift between Church and State over a controversial
religion law, but reconciliation could come at a high price for foreign
confessions -- including Hindu ones -- that want to practice freely in
Russia.

Mr. Yeltsin and the powerful Russian Orthodox Church have quarelled
this summer over the President's veto of a law that would grant national
status to just four "traditional" Russian faiths -- Orthodoxy,
Islam, Judaism and Buddhism -- making them, in effect, Russia's official
religions.

The law, passed by the opposition-dominated parliament last month and
strongly favoured by the Church, would restrict all other confessions,
and cancel their existing rights to publish, conduct missionary activity,
own property and maintain schools.

Mr. Yeltsin vetoed the law after the United States State Department
published a report warning that religious freedom was being curbed in Russia
and the U.S. Congress threatened to cut off financial aid to Moscow. The
veto seriously undermined the Kremlin's good relations with the Orthodox
Church, and created the prospect of political crisis when parliament returns
in September from its summer recess. Most experts believe opposition deputies
could easily muster the two-thirds vote required to overturn the veto,
throwing a Constitutional hand grenade into Mr. Yeltsin's lap at a time
when he has no shortage of other headaches. The Kremlin has argued that
the proposed law violates Russia's Constitution and severely restricts
minority rights. Any "non-traditional" sect wishing official
sanction would be required to undergo a 15-year bureaucratic process of
registration -- during which it would be forbidden from seeking converts
or even holding a bank account. Even after registration, it would only
be permitted to exist in localities where it could prove a continuous presence.

"We are very grateful that Yeltsin vetoed that law," says
an Asian diplomat, who asked not to be further identified. "It would
represent a serious departure from the secularism that has characterized
the post-Soviet Russian state, and would impose terrible hardships on small
confessions, and ones that are new to Russia."

The Krishna Consciousness Society, which has been very active in Russia
in recent years, along with several other lesser known Hindu groups, would
be effectively banned under the legislation.

A large number of Christian missionary groups, and even the powerful
Roman Catholic Church, would be similarly affected. But Mr. Yeltsin, who
has always been careful to maintain close relations with the Orthodox Church
-- Russia's traditional faith and one that claims 80-million followers
-- appeared this week to be backtracking from his determination to squelch
the law. The President has said that some version of the law is necessary
to "protect the spiritual health of the Russian people" against
doomsday sects and crackpot cults, and has urged a joint parliamentary
commission to find an acceptable compromise.

On Wednesday Mr. Yeltsin attended the opening of a new church in Moscow
together with Patriarch Alexy II, spiritual head of the Russian Orthodox
Church, and indicated that such a compromise is near. "No obstacles
shall separate us, because we know the role and the importance of the restoration
in Russia of Orthodox Christianity and the Orthodox Church," Mr. Yeltsin
told the Patriarch, according to news agencies. Patriarch Alexy told journalists
that Mr. Yeltsin had assured him the law will be enacted in its basic form,
and that it would provide protection from "destructive pseudo-religious
cults and foreign false-missionaries".

For many, that signals the end of separation between Church and State
and a new era of official patronage for a few religions -- and discrimination
against others -- in Russia. "Whatever compromises may be made, we
doubt they will include small confessions, such as Hindus, who have been
active in Russia," says the diplomat. "Perhaps some accommodation
will be made for the Catholic Church, or big Western Protestant groups.
But others, who have also been part of the new diversity in this country,
will suffer. That's very unfortunate," he says.

Sectarian crimes

MOSCOW (8 August) The activity of many foreign religious organizations
on Russian territory has been accompanied by violation of existing legislation
and the constitutional rights of citizens and has resulted in numerous
criminal cases, according to Viktor Navarnov, a prosecutor of the department
for supervising implementation of the law on international relations of
the general procuracy of the Russian federation, who spoke with a correspondent
of ITAR-TASS in an exclusive interview. Citing information from his office,
he noted that the expansion of nontraditional religious associations (totalitarian
sects) in Russia that promote antisocial behavior and rejection of constitutional
obligations and pose a threat to the moral, psychological, and physical
health of citizens present a serious threat to the state and to society.
Dividing people in the religious sphere and setting them against one another
on the basis of religious convictions, totalitarian sects destroy the spiritual
and moral foundations of society that have been created in the thousand-year
history of Orthodox Russia, according to the representative of the general
procuracy. On the basis of expert opinion, he said, the belief system of
totalitarian sects is intended to achieve a complete transformation of
people's system of moral values, which is achieved by overt psychological
manipulation of the consciousness of a person in the form of sermons, rituals,
and the like. In analyzing video tapes and printed materials they have
identified psychological techniques to achieve intellectual and emotional
influence that is aimed at a social and economic reorientation, change
of standards of values, and retention in the religious organization. Investigations
that have been conducted have established that the attraction of young
people into antisocial religious groups leads to destruction of family
relationships, arrests their psychological and social development, deforms
their personality structure, and requires special psychological and social
therapy. In Volgograd district alone, according to data of the general
procuracy, there are 37 religious associations that are operating without
registration, that is, surreptitiously, which pursue mercantilist goals,
namely the "White Brotherhood," "Bah," "World
Center," and "Black Moon," and others. All of them are characterized
by an internal hierarchy, subordination of the rank and file to the leadership,
and total control over the personal life of the adherents. In the "Church
of Scientology," for example, illegal manipulation of consciousness
is conducted among the members, in the process of which penetration into
the subconscious of a person is achieved, which creates real conditions
for damaging the moral, psychological, and physical health of citizens.
The religious association of "Jehovah's Witnesses" has achieved
wide distribution in the European part of Russia (144 congregations). Numerous
declarations made to law enforcement agencies by citizens whose relatives
are members of Jehovah's Witness show that the leadership of the society,
who draw people into their ranks by deceit, stirs up hatred toward traditional
religions, "makes zombies" of the parishioners' psyches, forbids
the fulfillment of the constitution duties to defend the Fatherland and
serve in the military, and breaks up families. The teachings that are harmful
for society that the Jehovah's Witnesses spread, according to the representative
of the general procuracy, include the doctrine about the "imminent
end of the world," which is used vigorously for enticing new members
and also for frightening and retaining others in the sect. The teaching
about a world catastrophe creates a mass psychosis and is characterized
by extreme immorality, he added. Inasmuch as the leadership of Jehovah's
Witnesses have frequently predicted the "end of the world," expert
psychologists consider that it could lead to actions of mass destruction
with dire consequences, such as occurred in the case of Aum Shinrikyo,
where members of the sect planted poison gas in a Tokyo subway, leading
to mass death. (tr. by PDS)

ITAR-TASS, Pravoslavie v Rossii

(posted 10 August 1997)

Liberal paper defends reformist priest

The conflict surrounding the congregation of the church of the Dormition
of the Most Holy Mother of God in Pechatniki and its leader, Fr Georgi
Kochetkov, already has received rather broad
publicity in both the secular and church press (the article of Olesia
Nikolaeva in NG, "Orthodoxy as dissident thinking" represents
a point of view different from mine). The event really was unprecedented--the
largest Muscovite Orthodox eucharistic community has been deprived of its
rector and spiritual father. Much has been written, both true and false,
about what happened in Dormition church on 29 June when the second priest
of the church, Fr Mikhail Dubovitsky, was taken by First Aid in the presence
of the police from the sanctuary or the church and put into the 14th psychiatric
hospital. We shall not linger long on this matter but turn to what happened
afterward, for the development of events is more interesting than the incident
in the sanctuary itself.

The first question that arises in a detailed study of the documents
of this story is where did the story about a beating of Fr Mikhail come
from? On the day of the incident, 29 June, Fr Dmitry Smirnov, a well known
priest in Moscow, on radio Radonezh declared that Fr Mikhail was taken
"directly from the church with the police after having been beaten."
One wants to ask Fr Dmitry: "Father, who told you this?" Father
Dmitry did not witness the incident and even, according to his own words,
did not talk with any eyewitnesses, but for some reason he explicitly talked
about a beating of Fr Mikhail. Perhaps he met with Fr Mikhail and he told
him that he had been beaten, bound, and the rest? No, this also did not
happen. Moreover, in his first interview after 29 June Fr Mikhail also
did not mention that he had been beaten. The physicians also found on Fr
Mikhail on scratches which, alas, are unavoidable in situations of compulsory
hospitalization. So who gave to Fr Dmitry the version about a beating?

On the evening of the twenty-ninth Fr Mikhail Dubovitsky was released
from the 14th hospital with the conclusion: "At the present, there
are no observable signs of psychic disturbances." We note that the
physicians, who assembled on the June Sunday evening in the hospital, not
without pressure, for examination of the patient, by no means implied in
their conclusion that Fr Mikhail was "practically well." But
this is the way the doctor of medical sciences Fr. Anatoly Berestov interpreted
this document on the airwaves of Radonezh on 30 June. Why did this humble
monastic priest make such a mistake? Who forced him to deceive the church
public?

We go further. On the first day after the event in Dormition church
its warden went to the office of the vicar of the patriarch in Moscow,
Archbishop Arseny of Istrinsk. After hearing the account of the warden
of the church regarding what happened the master declared: "That's
your version." It turns out that by the morning of the thirtieth the
bishop has his own firm version of the events. It would be interesting
to learn which of the witnesses of the tragedy of Fr Mikhail Archbishop
Arseny had managed to hear? Which documents had he studied by that time?

But if there were no documents then someone had to provide Master Arseny
his version. Fr Alexander Abramov, aide to the director of the chancellery
of the Moscow patriarchate, Archpriest Vladimir Divakov, was engaged in
"collecting evidence." As has been learned, Fr Alexander on 30
June appeared in the office of the commander of the 18th precinct of police
in Moscow, Senior Lieutenant Rimsky, with the question from Archbishop
Arseny on what basis the unit from the precinct "had used violent
actions on Fr Mikhail Dubovitsky, resulting in his arrest and removal to
the police department at the time of the worship service, that is, at the
time when he was performing his ministerial duties." What! On first
glance the question seems absurd. But this is only on first glance.

On 2 July the answer reached the patriarchate (NG
26.07.97) in which the chief of the department of police, Rimsky, said
that a departmental review had determined Fr Mikhail Dubovitsky was not
arrested by a police squad and not taken to the department, but he was
taken to the psychiatric hospital by First Aid physicians, who restrained
him after a fight with Fr Georgi Kochetkov, while the former had traces
of struggle and torn church vestments, so that the "behavior of the
officers of the department are considered legal, proper, and justified,
which also was confirmed by the testimony of eyewitnesses, the ministers
of the Moscow Presentation men's monastery . . . who were present during
the resolution of the conflict." We recall, that they (the ministers)
led by Hegumen Tikhon Shevkunov had three years earlier expelled the congregation
of Fr Georgi Kochetkov from the Vladimir cathedral of that monastery. In
a word, they are interested persons in this case. Not one of the "eyewitnesses"
was a witness of the events in the sanctuary of Dormition church on 29
June. We also add that Senior Lieutenant Shunaev, who was the one who was
in the sanctuary of the church of the Dormition on the 29th and who addressed
the crowd with the words: "no violence has been committed. . . the
father (i.e. Fr Mikhail) is somehow not himself," in a conversation
with journalists said that he knows nothing about any investigation and
that he cannot give any explanation in connection with this. So what investigation
is the chief talking about in his response to Archbishop Arseny? Rimsky
himself acknowledged in conversation with parishioners that he was not
in the church and he composed no response. Who prepared this document?
Were the "eyewitnesses" from the Presentation monastery?

As we have seen, there were many lies in this matter from the very beginning.
Under such conditions it is quite natural that they got into the documents
which were prepared for the signature of the most holy patriarch. The resolution
signed by him on 1 July (we recall that the response from the police arrived
only on the 2nd) states as fact that on 29 June in the church of the Dormition
"sacrilege was committed upon a clergyman of the church, Fr. Mikhail
Dubovitsky, and he was beaten and taken by force to the psychiatric hospital."
On the basis of this evident lie Fr Georgi was dismissed from his position
as rector of the church and the parish council was told to "resign
from its responsibilities," and "people who participated in the
sacrilege upon a priest and in his beating are forbidden to partake of
the holy Christian Mysteries and in divine services until they repent before
the confessor of the city of Moscow." It appears that the last phrase,
in which there are no names, pertains to the altar boys of the Dormition
church. And that it was put into the document in hopes of creating fear
(the formula is really quite old) and that one of them would be unable
to stand the pressure and will inform on himself. This is all well known,
isn't it?

We return to the collection of "evidence." On Monday, the
30th, Fr Mikhail returned to the emergency room in his neighborhood where
on his medical report was recorded "numerous contusions of the upper
and lower extremities," and "wounds on the right half of the
chest." At this emergency room, on 20 July, Fr Alexander Abramov (according
to the personnel it was evidently he) appeared with a request for Fr Mikhail's
diagnosis. This document, it seems, was given to Fr Alexander. True, in
the document which Fr Alexander received there is no mention of a small
detail that was contained in other documents of the emergency room, namely
that according to Fr Mikhail he "was beaten by unknown persons on
29 June." If the wounds of the priest and the document about them
are not a complete fake, then it turns out that Fr Mikhail Dubovitsky was
beaten on Sunday after his release from the 14th hospital. But by whom
and for what? However, perhaps the document actually is "fake"?
We all know how it is possible to get such documents in Russia.

And so Master Arseny got what he wanted. By Wednesday he had in his
hands "undoubted proof" of the commission of a crime: a paper
from the police which told of the fight and the evidence of the presence
of Fr Mikhail in the emergency room where the "beating" was established.
Who has opposed these "arguments"? Indeed it is possible to imagine
what was said about this to his holiness and how the picture and consequences
of the horrible crime in the sanctuary of the church of the Dormition were
described. So it is quite predictable that there would be the resolution
the most holy patriarch signed on 2 July dismissing Fr Georgi Kochetkov,
rector of the largest Moscow congregation, from priestly service "until
the completion of the investigation of the incident" "for inability
to stabilize the internal parish life and...also for offensive actions
besmirching the honor and dignity of the clergy of the church, Fr Mikhail
Dubovitsky, and for bringing about physical attack upon him in the sanctuary
of the church." Just so.

What the opponents of the congregation of Father Georgi had not been
able to achieve in numerous so-called "theological" and "academic-practical"
conferences and round tables, nor get from the last two bishops' councils,
they were able to achieve in three days as a result of a direct provocation
with pathological elements. "Opponents" of Fr Georgi, who failed
to conquer him externally by more appropriate methods, carried out their
plot with the help of overt criminality. The methods of struggle with the
Dormition parish are disturbing. "This Carthaginian lie must be destroyed,"
declared Hegumen
Tikhon over the airwaves of Radonezh. And really, there was not much
hope that the parish could withstand the blows of lies and slanders.

But there still is hope. Not in the church commission which was appointed
for "examination" of the current affair on 11 July, after the
patriarch's decision already had been made. According to witnesses who
were summoned to its sessions in the New Savior monastery, this investigation
was more like interrogations in certain well known offices than a genuine
ecclesiastical quest for truth. The hope is that the parish of Fr Georgi
is a community or, using the words of the witness Serafim Chichagov, a
spiritual family. It will not be so simple to break up a strong family,
even when it is left without means for existence. The family can resist
the "system" and triumph over it. This cannot be done in isolation.

In the end one wants to express one observation about this. Many people,
with whom I have talked during these days, refuse to help Dormition parish,
citing this crude intrachurch affair. But, first, the violation of the
law in the church was a violation of the law. And second, Orthodox fundamentalism,
which is rapidly gaining strength in the church recently, is both a church
and social phenomenon, since its basic goal is the struggle for power not
only in the church but also in society. What yesterday was viewed as a
masquerade--the parades of cossacks and black hundredists, etc.--today
represents a real threat to peace and freedom in society. After liberation
from the communist "system" it is important for all of us to
be sure that another "system" does not come to power tomorrow.
(tr by PDS)

Nationalist Orthodox journal refutes president's veto
of religion law

EXPERT COMMENTARY ON THE DRAFT OF THE FEDERAL LAW "ON FREEDOM OF
CONSCIENCE AND RELIGIOUS ASSOCIATIONS"

Radonezh, issue no. 13, August 1997

In rejecting the draft of the federal law "On Freedom of Conscience
and Religious Association," which had been adopted by the State Duma,
the president of the Russian federation stated that provisions of this
draft contradict provisions of the constitution of Russia, federal laws
of Russia, and the foundations of the constitutional system of Russia.
It is impossible to agree with the Russian president's position. The prepared
draft of the law was the product of intense efforts of its developers and
it fully corresponded with current Russian legislation and generally recognized
legislative practice of foreign states.

"Radonezh" suggests that its readers persuade themselves of
this. We are presenting the full text of the statement of the president
with corresponding commentary from our group of experts.

Holy Synod again hesitates on question about royal
family

From the report of the meeting of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox
church, July 17, 1997:

CONSIDERED: the work of the State Commission on the Examination and
Re-burial of the Remains of the Russian Emperor Nicholas II and Members
of His Family. . . . [The report contains a synopsis of the synod's consideration.]

. . . RESOLVED:
1) that the questions posed by the Church at the Holy Synod meeting of
6 October 1995 and those worked out by the Commission on 15 November 1995
be considered crucial for the completion of the work of the State Commission;
2) that the biased presentation of the work of the Commission and the position
of the Russian Orthodox Church by the mass media is regrettable;
3) that the position taken by Metropolitan Juvenaly at the Commission be
approved.

Yeltsin meets patriarch

President Boris Yeltsin and Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow and all-Rus,
at the consecration of the restored chapel of saints Boris and Gleb on
6 August 1997, with a model of the chapel.
(photo from ITAR-TASS)

MOSCOW (AP), 7 August. President Boris Yeltsin and the leader of Russia's
Orthodox church kissed at a religious service Wednesday and pledged to
mend their longtime alliance, frayed by a divisive dispute over competing
religions. Yeltsin and Patriarch Alexis II, standing together near the
newly built chapel
of St. Boris and Gleb, vowed to strengthen their cooperation. . . .

"I am satisfied that the president has moved to meet the aspirations
of tens of millions of our church's faithful," Alexis said. . . .

AMERICAN ANALYST CONCLUDES: ". . . This reassertion of Russian
caesaropapist traditions of close links between the state and one church
is likely to become one of the most important obstacles to the possibility
of creating a democratic system. . . ." Analysis
from Washington, by Paul Goble.

TEXT OF SPEECH BY PRESIDENT YELTSIN AT CONSECRATION OF THE CHAPEL OF
SAINTS BORIS AND GLEB
from Presidential Press Service, 6 August 1997

Your Most Holiness!

Dear fellow citizens!

Not quite three months have passed since the day when we were participants
and observers in the laying of the first stone of the chapel-church of
the faithful prince saints, Boris and Gleb. And now its construction is
completed.

Here, at the Arbat gates, for more than 500 years stood the church of
the holy martyrs Boris and Gleb, which believers esteemed. It was destroyed.
But today, on the eve of the 850th jubilee of Moscow, its renovated form
has appeared.

It is our moral obligation to restore the sacred places that have been
destroyed. We sincerely rejoice that Moscow again is illuminated by the
light from the cupolas of the largest church in Russia, the cathedral of
Christ the Savior. But just as much joy and emotion seizes us when we see
that city and village churches and chapels are being restored and repaired.
This shows once again the attitude which the state is displaying toward
the church in restoring all that the years of sorrow destroyed. Participation
in the rebirth of churches unites people of the most varied convictions,
ages, and professions.

This sacred work is so very important for strengthening the moral foundation
of our lives and for cleansing our souls.

I place great value on the substantial strengthening of relations between
the state and the Russian Orthodox church that has happened in the past
few years. I cannot help but not the contribution of the Russian Orthodox
church and of the patriarch of Moscoe and all-Rus, Alexis II, personally
in peacemaking and educational activity and in philanthropy.

The role of the church in social aid and in preserving and expanding
our cultural heritage is enormous. I am sure that our fruitful cooperation
will enhance the welfare of Russia and no hinderances of any kind, which
have arisen recently, will ever be able to separate us, in so far as we
know both the role and significance of Orthodox Christianity and our Orthodox
church in the rebirth of Russia.

I want to express my gratitude and thanks to the artists' collective
which drew up the splendid draft of the church-chapel of the holy faithful
princes Boris and Gleb and to the builders who brought it to reality in
such a short time.

I express my thanks to the government of Moscow and Mayor Yury Mikhailovich
Luzhkov, who three months--less than three months--ago on this spot at
the laying of the cornerstone gave his word to have the church built by
this time. And, as always, he kept his word.

Special thanks to the Fund for the Unity of the Orthodox Peoples and
to all who cooperated in the hastening of this lustrous day of consecration
of this chapel.

I wish you, Your Most Holiness, and to all present here good health,
peace, and strength for new achievements in the name of our fatherland.
(tr. by PDS)

The state authorities must realize that the national spirit
must not be left to the tyranny of the elements of this age:

Addressing the people assembled, the primate of the Russian Orthodox
church thanked everyone who began and carried out the construction of the
memorial church, including the governments of the country and the city
of Moscow and the Fund of the Unity of Orthodox Peoples, and many others.

The patriarch said: "This day and this event again shows how the
historical memory is being restored to our people, which from ancient times
has resided in its spiritual and cultural image. In a profound sense it
is no accident that the second baptism of our people proceeds hand and
hand with the regeneration of Russia and with its gradual transition from
the times of troubles to the creation of civil peace. Just as many centuries
ago, Rus is being created and united on the basis of the native faith.
In this way and only in this way can the fatherland restore its energies
and its beauty. Hope for a better future lies only in fidelity to our native
spiritual path."

Addressing the head of the Russian state and all those present, Patriarch
Alexis again touched upon the question that is disturbing the whole of
society today, the draft law "On Freedom of Conscience and Religious
Associations." The head of the Russian Orthodox church said in particular:
"Recently discussions were again stirred up about the extent to which
our society has the right to protect itself from spiritual corruption and
to create a barrier to destructive sects and false missionaries. Much depends
on the outcome of these discussions, whether our Rus will preserve itself
spiritually. And I am satisfied that the president has come to grips with
the hopes of tens of millions of believers of our church, since he has
discussed these controversial questions with the church's representative.
In the course of the discussion we became convinced that if it were not
for the vacation many of the obvious problems never would have arisen.
I thank Boris Nikolaevich for his expression in our conversation of his
firm conviction of the role and significance of Orthodoxy in the history
and contemporary life of the Russian state and its people. Saint Tikhon,
patriarch of Moscow, in the dramatic postrevolutionary period wrote: 'No
kind of outside intervention and generally noone and nothing will be able
to save Russia from ruin and devastation until the Righteous Lord turns
his wrath to mercy and until the people itself is purified from its ages-old
evils in the font of repentance and thereby is spiritually reborn into
a new man, created after God's image in righteousness and true holiness.'
We Orthodox Christians know from centuries of experience the truth of these
words. We also know that hatred and division, deception and vice, immorality
and impiety, the blindness of false ideals, and desecration of the native
faith and the national traditions will bring devastation, suffering, and
death. "The government also must recognize this. For if the spirit
of the people is abandoned to the tyranny of the elements of this age then
all that remains for us is to face the future in fear and trembling. What
kind of Russia will we, the older generation, leave to our grandchildren?
This is being determined today; it is being determined by the government
and by the people. So we shall never forget the enormity and the urgency
of the responsibility that we bear before God, the nation, and history."
(tr. by PDS)

Moscow (6 August) "The law on freedom of conscience and religious
association which I returned for revision soon may be adopted." President
Borin Yeltsin declared this today in Moscow after the ceremony of consecration
of the church-chapel of saints Boris and Gleb. The president said that
the law must be revised in a reconciliation commission which will consist
of representatives of the government, presidency, as well as the Russian
Orthodox church. the head of state noted that the commission must revise
the law and review all of its provisions that violate the constitution.
In response to the president, Patriarch Alexis II acknowledged that today
he has become optimistic with regard to the fate of the law.

"The law on freedom of conscience and relgious associations is
not discriminatory and it does not restrict any confessions," Patriarch
Alexis II declared today to journalists after the ceremony of consecration
of the church-chapel of saints Boris and Gleb on Arbat square in Moscow.
In the opinion of the primate of the Russian church "the law regulates
the activity of destructive foreign sects." In all European countries,
the most holy patriarch recalled, there is a procedure that requires accreditation
for each activity. "Moreover," he added, "it is for activity
which influences the minds and consciousness, and the faith of people.
We must know who is preaching on our territory and who is ideologically
educating our citizens." The tragic situation in the Tokyo subway
involving the Aum Sinrikyo sect should make us cautions, his holiness said.
He also cited the example of the "White Brotherhood," whose founder's
portraits, Maria Devi Khristis, were plastered all over Moscow. "In
November she is supposed to be set free and is she going to come here to
found a religious organization? The offices that deal with registration
must be very attentive to such cases," Patriarch Alexis thinks.

As regards the Catholic church in Russia, the patriarch of Moscow and
all-Rus is convinced that Catholics have no reason to be anxious. "The
Catholic church in Russia has existed here more than fifty years, so it
will have no problems with registration." But it cannot aspire to
the historical role and label of being a traditional religion for Russia.
"In tsarist Russia before the revolution the principal region of residence
for Catholics was Poland and Lithuania. In St. Petersburg and Moscow there
were Catholic churches for foreigners. The metropolitan of Mogilev ruled
the Catholic parishes in the territory of Russia," he recalled.

His most holiness acknowledged that today had inspired optimism in him
with regard to the future fate of the law. After today's meeting with Russia's
President Boris Yeltsin and also the recent lengthy telephone conversation
with the head of state, the patriarch said that he had been assured that
a reasonable compromise will be found. "This is what the president
called for in his appeal to a number of lawmakers," said the most
holy patriarch Alexis, expressing his conviction that the law absolutely
must be adopted. (tr. by PDS)

Also from the Presidential Press Service, 6 August 1997

President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin authorized the leader of his administration,
V.B. Yumashev, to conduct before 1 September 1997 an expanded session of
the Council on Relations with Religious Associations of the presidency
of the Russian federation for reaching agreement with representatives of
confessions, deputies of the State Duma, members of the Federation Council
regarding necessary changes in the draft of the law "On Freedom of
Conscience and Religious Associations. (tr. by PDS)

Patriarch interviewed

The daily interviewed the head of the Russian Orthodox
Church, Patriarch Aleksiy II, regarding his upcoming meeting with President
Boris Yeltsin.

The two will focus on the controversial draft law on religion,
which the president refused to sign despite the fact that it was supported
by the Russian Orthodox Church.

"We agreed that all amendments to the law will be
discussed in advance between representatives of the president and of the
(Russian Orthodox) Church," the Patriarch told the daily. "I
have told the president that the law is not discriminatory. It might not
conform to the American pattern, but it corresponds to the European model,"
he said. "Legislation in a number of countries speaks about traditional
or state religions," he adding citing the examples of Greece, Ireland,
Sweden, England, Spain, Italy and Portugal.

However, the Patriarch is opposed to granting the status
of a state religion to the Russian Orthodoxy. The Church should be separate
from the state, he said. He also rejected the idea that Catholicism is
traditional in Russia, and spoke out against the activities of various
sects that he said have invaded Russia.

(posted 6 August)

Conflict between traditional and reform
Orthodox turns violent

FATHER MIKHAIL HOSPITALIZED; FATHER GEORGI SUSPENDED

Moscow priest Georgi Kochetkov has made a name for himself as a religious
innovator. His actions have divided opinion both in Moscow and throughout
the world. The division reached what seems to be a crisis point on 29 June
in an incident at his parish church of the Dormition of the Mother of God
in Pechatniki in the Seretenka region of Moscow. Reports about the details
of the incident are extremely contradictory.

One of the first accounts came from Maxim M. Obukhov (orthomed@glas.apc.org),
which is reproduced here . This text has been slightly edited for English
style.

FATHER KOCHETKOV IN MOSCOW
Last week Orthodox Moscow was shocked by an awful incident that happened
at the church of Dormition of the Mother of God in Pechatniki. This parish
is led by the well-known celibate priest Fr. Georgi Kochetkov, who is famous
for using his own (unauthorized) translation of church services from Slavonic
into Russian and for his complaints about being oppressed.
Fr. Kochetkov is known as one of the radical reformist group of Moscow
clergy. Many innovations of this parish have been opposed by the majority
of Russian priests: women entering into altar, laity having the Holy Chalice
after the Divine Liturgy, new theological views, and extreme ecumenism.
All these innovations caused a division within the Orthodox public of Moscow.
Recently the auxiliary priest Fr. Mikhail was assigned to the parish. He
refused to use the Russian translation not authorized by ecclesiastical
authorities and was reprimanded by Fr. Kochetkov. The latter even refused
to have Communion with him - "because of the different points of view".
The covert conflict erupted in tragedy. On 29 June, when Fr. Mikhail began
to read prayers of confession in Slavonic, he was told not to do this by
Father Kochetkov's altar boys . They grabbed his service book, seized the
priest, and took him to the altar where he was beaten and bound. (This
fact is confirmed by witnesses). After a call for first aid, a psychiatric
service ambulance arrived. (By the way, it arrived unusually soon, in thirty
minutes instead of the three to five hours usual for Moscow. Persons living
in Russia know what a psychiatric ambulance coming so soon means.) The
priest who had been bound and beaten was taken to the hospital, where he
received an injection of tranquilizer. Just after that he was released
as psychologically well but still with traces of violence. The traces of
violence and trauma are confirmed by medical examination. His mental condition
is confirmed in documents by physicians of the hospital.
The beating of a priest in the sanctuary and withholding of fellowship
are such extraordinary and shameful crimes that after petitions from a
majority of Moscow clergy, including two bishops, His Most Holines Patriarch
Alexis II suspended Father Kochetkov. (ed. by PDS)

Five days after the incident Nezavisimaia gazeta published a different
account by someone who evidently is more sympathetic to Father Kochetkov
than is Obukhov.

CRISIS OF MEDIEVAL WORLDVIEW AS HUMAN TRAGEDY
by Ivan Chernov
Nezavisimaia gazeta, 4 July 1997
The first three words of the title belong to our national philosopher Vladimir
Soloviev. He included within the indicated crises the inability of traditional
Orthodoxy to deal with the challenges of modernity and to turn its face
toward contemporary people. Instead of giving to the suffering a word of
consolation and gospel truth, Orthodox pastors speak only about the preeminence
of traditional ways, the apostasy of Catholics and protestants from the
truth, and the unprecedented number of heresies and heretics. Some parishioners
pay attention to the Orthodox zealots, and others leave since they are
unable to bear the interminable abuse and to practice politics in the religious
dimension.
Moscow. Church of the Dormition in Pechatniki in Sretenka. Large. One of
the largest in the capital. The parish of Father Georgi Kochetkov, a famous
reformer priest.
What and how is he trying to reform? He has translated some of the liturgy
into Russian. He tells his flock to take the sacrament of baptism seriously.
He reads aloud the so-called secret prayers. He celebrates with the royal
doors open. He organized classes for baptismal candidates and created a
higher theological school bearing the name of Moscow Metropolitan Filaret.
He deals with the challenges of his enormous and extremely demanding flock.
And in everything else Father Georgi maintains completed Orthodox views,
preaching the Gospel and reading the patristic tradition. However, many
are displeased.
The most unsubstantiated rumors are circulated about him and his parish:
that they are ordaining priests there autonomously and that they conduct
some kind of dubious dinner conversations. In a word, they are sectarians
and heretics among the Orthodox.
The church authorities have long wished to bring the obstinate parish to
heel. They appointed a second priest, Father Mikhail, a younman, a traditionalist
from Kursk. The conservatives were heartened. They began to call together
people to make their confession to Father Mikhail. Most of them came from
the neighboring monastery of the Presentation of the Christ Child: the
service there wearies them and here they are more timely. Everything would
be fine but there is a problem: there are too many intellectuals in the
parish of Father Georgi Kochetkov and too many discussions and questions.
Father Mikhail could not bear the intellectual pressure for long. Last
Sunday he suddenly began screaming at the top of his voice in the sanctuary
during the liturgy: "They are killing me!" Altar boys approached
the priest in order to comfort him. He kept crying out. They had to call
the psychiatric ambulance. Monks came running from the Presentation monastery.
It was said that one of them threw himself under the wheels of the vehicle.
But nevertheless they took the poor man somewhere and then gave the diagnosis
of "acute psychosis."
There's a crisis for you! Comedy? Tragedy? (tr. by PDS)
Russian text: Krisis
srednevekogo mirosozertsaniia

Two days earlier the newspaper provided a broader perspective on the
issue, which was written by two of the paper's regular contributors, Maxim
Shevchenko and Oleg Mramornov: THE
LARGEST MOSCOW PARISH REMAINS WITHOUT ITS BELOVED RECTOR. "Conflict
in the church of the Dormition of the Mother of God in Pechatniki could
have far-reaching consequences for the Russian Orthodox church."

Orthodox as persecutors

WHY THE ORTHODOX CHURCH HAS TAKEN TO BIBLE BASHING ITS RIVALS
by Robyn Dixon

Sydney Morning Herald, July 26, 1997

WHEN Baptist missionaries invaded a small, conservative village, not
far from the communist stronghold of Smolensk, several hundred kilometres
west of Moscow, it was too much for the local Orthodox priest. Watching
the slow parade of his competitors handing out their Protestant brochures,
he was seized by a hot surge of ungodly rage. He snatched a Bible from
one of the Baptists and whacked him over the head with it.

After suffering 74 years of religious persecution in the Soviet Union,
something very strange is happening in the Russian Orthodox Church. It
has become the new oppressor, trying to hound out foreign churches and
missionaries competing to save the souls of Russians. Harassment of members
of foreign religions by Orthodox priests has turned violent on several
occasions.

The Hare Krishna organisation claims a Russian Orthodox priest led an
attack on one of its temples in the southern Russian town of Rostov-on-Don
during a religious meeting in June last year. Ten Hare Krishnas went to
hospital after they were beaten with shovels and clubs. One was unconscious
for a week. The organisation claims another of its devotees in the town
of Nizhny Novogorod was grabbed by a priest after she tried give him a
Hare Krishna leaflet. The group alleges the priest took the young woman
to his church, beat her and then took her to the police station, demanding
she be punished.

Despite the religious freedoms permitted since perestroika, there is
still not much religious tolerance in Russia. In ancient times, the Church
was conservative and xenophobic. Today, it remains suspicious of outsiders.

Recently, the Russian Orthodox Church and the Communist Party formed
a strange alliance to try to undermine foreign churches. Both pushed for
a law that would restrict the activities of most of the churches operating
in Russia. But the Russian President, Mr Yeltsin, clashed with the Orthodox
Church for the first time when he vetoed the law on Wednesday. His decision
stunned the Orthodox hierarchy. At Moscow's ancient Danilovsky Monastery,
the headquarters of the Russian Orthodox Church, a team of gardeners manicures
the formal garden, spread like a floral eiderdown beneath the glittering
golden cupolas of the churches. Equally measured and formal is the church
press conference in response to the veto, held in the luxury hotel in the
monastery grounds. The atmosphere is plush and powerful. Overhead, icons
of Christ and the Mother of God hang poised above the debate. On the table
stand bottles of Saint Springs mineral water, a handy little earner for
the Church. Mr Yeltsin vetoed the law because it undermined the rights
of many Russian churches and contradicted the Russian Constitution, which
guarantees equality of all religions.

The law, attacked by Pope John Paul II and the United States Senate,
gave favoured status to four "traditional" Russian religions
- the Russian Orthodox Church, Islam, Buddhism and Judaism - while all
others have to prove they have been operating for more than 15 years or
face a 15-year bureaucratic struggle for registration. Every new branch
would have to go through the 15-year registration process and could not
proceed without the permission of the "traditional" churches
in the area. Those without registration could not own property, preach
publicly or distribute literature. The Catholic administrator of European
Russia, Archbishop Thaddaeus Kondrusiewicz, said that although Catholicism
in Russia dated back to the 12th century, there were only two Catholic
churches left by the 1930s. There are now 23. The Archbishop fears that
under the law, the Catholic Church would be forced to surrender all but
the two churches it owned 15 years ago, facing a 15-year delay to register
any new church.

The battle over Russia's law on religion is far from over. Communist
deputies say the Parliament is likely to overturn Mr Yeltsin's veto. Mr
Victor Ilyushin, chairman of the security committee of the State Duma,
the lower house of Parliament, said the law was required to limit Western
pressure on Russian minds. "The free and uncontrolled activity of
foreign religious confessions in Russia is a threat to state security,"
he said. One of the law's main advocates in the Duma, the communist deputy
Mr Victor Zorkaltsev, attacked the President's veto, saying: "Russia
has been trampled underfoot."

In the days of the Soviet Union, members of the Church hierarchy learned
to co-exist with communism. Some Orthodox priests were persecuted but others
colluded with authorities and survived. And there was, at least, no competition
from outside. The coincidence of the interests of Orthodox faith and orthodox
communism reflect where the natural conservatives lie in Russian society
today. They are nationalistic, anti-foreigner, against change and opposed
to outside competition. The Church and the Communist Party share supporters,
with many elderly Russian Orthodox believers also being pro-Communist.
When Mr Yeltsin vetoed the law, he took a principled stand at considerable
political peril. It is difficult for a president to win a debate against
God and his earthly envoys. And it is risky for a Russian leader to alienate
the powerful Russian Orthodox Church with its vast and devout constituency.

Indeed, Mr Yeltsin's stand is unlikely to win him any political friends.
On the day of the last presidential election, the Russian Patriarch, Alexy
II, made his preference clear when he blessed Mr Yeltsin, which suggested
the President and his people understand the power of the Church.

But now the risk for Mr Yeltsin is that the shared conservative persuasion
of the Orthodox Church and the Communists could evolve into a more permanent
alliance.

Uzbek restrictions on religion

UZBEKISTAN. FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE ON PAPER AND IN FACT
by M.S. Zapisal
Russkaia mysl, 24 July 1997 (full text)

MOSCOW. A group of protestant believers arriving from Uzbekistan carried
across the border material about the state of religious freedom in that
country. Here is what was described by a member of this group, a Pentecostalist
pastor who requested anonymity.

"According to the constitution everything should be normal but
the legislation about freedom of conscience contains an article prohibiting
missionary activity. It states specifically: "Missionary activity
is forbidden," although there also is an article which says that religious
organizations are formed for the profession and dissemination of faith.
But no one pays any attention. And because there is no precise definition
of what missionary activity is, it is understood in whatever way is convenient,
beginning with the distribution of booklets and extending to evangelization.

"Religious activity is forbidden to all foreign religious organizations.
What is more, because of different interpretations of the provisions of
the law, it often happens that actions are prohibited which actually are
permissible. For example, dissemination of faith is forbidden. If a person
begins to distribute booklets or religious literature on the street, they
can easily detain, arrest, and accuse him of distributing religious teachings
and charge him under article 241 of the administrative codex.

"Such an attitude toward religious organizations is arbitrary:
If churches do not disseminate religious teachings among the native nationality,
if they cooperate with the authorities or security services on the basis
of secret or open agreements, then they have fewer problems. If a church
is active and goes beyond merely conducting worship services and engages
in overt profession of faith, evangelization, philanthropy, and education,
then problems and insurmountable difficulties begin.

"The law on freedom of conscience theoretically permits worship
literature in accordance with one's wishes, but actually there is a multitude
of restrictions connected with particular activity among the native population,
the Uzbeks. It is simply interpreted as missionary activity. Even when
an Uzbek or Kazakh believes in Jesus Christ and tries to share his faith,
restrictions begin.

"There are cases where students of the university have been persecuted
by their deans' office simply for speaking about God or going to church.They
are required to renounce their faith and threatened with dismissal on some
basis or other.

"The criminal code has an article against inciting religious hostility
and about conducting meetings, processions, protests and demonstrations.
Now many religious organizations which are not registered are threatened
with criminal charges on these articles.

"In September of last year there was an incident in our church,
for example, when believers were assembled and a raid was conducted. About
twenty people were detained. They were shown a photograph of the pastor
and asked: 'Do you know this pastor? Answer yes or no.' After this they
made use of those answering 'yes.' They went to the pastor's home and served
upon him a charge of violating article 241 of the law for teaching religious
ideas, without permission, on a private basis. The same happened in November--a
round-up and interrogation, but only the pastor was charged with violating
two articles, 241 and 201, and taken to prison.

"Those who do not want to be registered are rare. The basic problem
is different--to achieve registration. Although registration requires the
presentation of four or five documents, actually many more are demanded.
Artificial hindrances are created: a person arrives without suspecting
anything and brings everything that had been suggested. He is not refused
but is told that the documents cannot be accepted because a comma is out
of place or a date must be changed or a signature is incorrect, etc.

"And this is not said at first but only after the documents have
been submitted to several offices and the time limit established for the
registration has elapsed, and then they say: 'You know, this won't do.
You must do it all over.'

"There are churches which have been trying to register like this
for three years or longer. And, for example, the charity fund Khydoka khlakha
(God will provide) has sought registration about six years, after which
it was forced to cease its existence entirely.

"Several evangelical churches (Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists,
and others) have been subjected to demands of reregistration in this way.
They say to them: 'We registered you incorrectly and this is the mistake,
and now you must remove this item.' That is, they actually demand that
believers limit the activity that their own bylaws specify. Basically this
concerns such things as education, work with children, evangelization,
and publishing. It is required that worship services take place only at
the location of registration.

"Conversations with children younger than six are forbidden, and
then written consent from the parents is required in the case of minor
youths. Frequently ministers are summoned to offices and told: 'You do
not have the right to work with children. Suppose children drop in at your
place who do not have parental permission, or in the case of some that
have permission, suppose that a boy or girl friend who accompanies them
has Muslim parents?' All of this is done so that the churches themselves
will turn away believers or restrain themselves out of fear of ban and
loss of registration.

"In Karakalpakia a church of Pentecostals tried for a long time
to receive registration, but the minister of justice refused them on that
basis that they engage in spreading their faith.

"Generally, in Azerbaijan all protestants have been charged with
conducting antistate activity. A Bible society there was registered, but
under the guise of a society of booklovers called 'Kikap.'

"The authorities make no secret that they expect the adoption of
a strict new law in Russia, andthen it will be more convenient for them
to make things even tougher in our country." (tr. by PDS)

Completion of Savior cathedral nears

ROAD TO CHURCH LEADS THROUGH TV STUDIO AND GARAGE
by Inna Kolomeiskaia
Segodnia, 1 August 1997 (full text)

A patriarchal prayer service and consecration of the walls of the cathedral
of Christ the Savior will occur on 7 September. The new cathedral will
have different basement facilities than the old. This is because the old
cathedral stood on a hill but now the hill is gone and in its place there
is an enormous pit left over from the palace of soviets and the Moscow
swimming pool. It was decided to build a subterranean storey to house the
patriarchate, which for many years has been forced to squeeze into cramped
quarters that were inadequate for its needs. Now the offices, library,
TV studio, meeting hall for church councils and the Holy Synod, and the
patriarch's office will be located below the cathedral of Christ the Savior.
There even will be an underground parking garage, part of which evidently
will be leased. This information came from a press conference of a representative
of the Fund for Financial Support for Restoring the Cathedral of Christ
the Savior, Sergei Semenenko. He said that in the three years of its work
the fund (a noncommercial charitable organization) raised more than three
trillion rubles for construction.

The overall cost of all work on restoration of the cathedran of Christ
the Savior was estimated in 1994 at 350 million dollars. The actual total
could turn out to be much less because several construction firms have
given volunteer labor and materials have been donated.

The solemn patriarchal prayer service and consecration of the cathedral
will be on 7 September. At that time the lower gallery with memorial plaques
honoring the donors who gave money for the restoration will be opened.
By the time of the jubilee of the capital the cathedral will be completely
covered in white marble and its external appearance will correspond completely
with the historical pattern. The landscape also will be completed, with
lawn and benches and a small pool and observation deck. Incidentally, the
land still belongs to the city and its transfer to the patriarchate is
just now being arranged. The official opening of the territory of the cathedral
of Christ the Savior, which should be attended by the patriarch and Mayor
Yury Luzhkov of Moscow, will be on 3 September. At that time a great concert
of church singing is planned.

The interior artistic decoration of the cathedral and its equipment
will be completed by the year 2000. But this will not interfere with the
clergy or worshippers. Almost all the bells of the cathedral have been
hung. The Transfiguration church (the lower cathedral) now has regular
services and its own parish. On 19 August, an elaborate patriarchal service
with the traditional consecration of fruits was held on the Apple Savior's
day. (tr. by PDS)

(posted 3 August)

Yeltsin and Alexis II

PRESIDENT WILL MEET HEAD OF CHURCH

Segodnia, 1 August (full text)

President Boris Yeltsin is expected to meet with Patriarch Alexis II
of Moscow and all-Rus at the beginning of August, according to a source
in the Moscow patriarch. The source specifically did not rule out that
the meeting would occur on 6 August at the time of the ceremony dedicating
the restored
chapel of the martyr-saints Boris and Gleb. The source suggested that
the president and the head of the Russian Orthodox church will agree on
principles for the direction in which the revision of the law on freedom
of conscience will go.

Meanwhile yesterday the assistant chief of the administration of the
presidency, Maxim Boiko, exchanged views about the adtoption of a law on
freedom of conscience with reprsentatives of the ROC and Muslim, Jewish,
and Buddhist religious organizations. The religious leaders expressed their
readiness for constructive dialogue and agreed that the document must not
contain provisions that violate the constitution of the Russian federation.
(tr. by PDS)

MOSCOW, AUGUST 1, RIA NOVOSTI - Federal President Boris Yeltsin had
a long telephone conversation with His Beatitude Alexis II, Patriarch of
Moscow and All Russia, to discuss the vetoed bill, On Freedom of Conscience
and Religious Organisations.

The President shares the Patriarch's apprehensions as sinister sects
and cults are mushrooming in Russia to bring moral and physical damage
to people they entice. The President is sure that they will be neutralised
through official efforts, and their proliferation stopped, the presidential
press service says in a statement circulated today. text
of statement

The President and the Patriarch agree that Russia needs the freedom
of conscience law after all its premises are amended into constitutional
compliance. They regret that they are both absent from Moscow--Boris Yeltsin
on vacation, and Alexis II on ecclesiastical affairs--and so cannot confer
eye-to-eye about the disputable bill. If it had taken place in due time,
such a conference would have prevented many misunderstandings and misrepresentations
of the developments by the mass media.

The President and the Patriarch agreed to join hands for bill amendment
and adoption.

(posted 3 August)

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